1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to handgun holsters and more particularly concerns a holster with improved features to prevent inadvertent dislodgement or withdrawal of the handgun from the holster. The holster is designed to retain the handgun securely and yet to permit rapid withdrawal when required.
2. Prior Art
Most attacks on police officers by assailants trying to remove officers handguns from holsters have come from the front or side of officers and not from the rear. It is obvious that an assailant has more mechanical leverage as well as an unobstructed path by simply pulling forward and up on the handle of the weapon while standing in front facing the officer or facing him at his side. Holsters as typified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,630,420; 4,542,841; 4,273,276; and applicant's own U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,902,639; 4,286,741; and 4,694,980 attempt to make it difficult for an assailant to remove an officer's handgun from the rear.
Most securing straps of holsters might become unlocked in a violent attack. Because of this possibility, an internal locking method is incorporated in some of the prior art holsters to make it more difficult for the attacker to remove the handgun from the holster in an attack from the rear of the officer. Generally, the internal locking means engages the back recurve of the trigger guard or the top ledge of a cylinder of a revolver. In more recent times the popularity of the semiautomatic pistol has posed a problem in the design of a secure holster because this type of handgun has no cylinder ledges nor trigger guard recurves to serve as a locking point. An attempt to lock upon the forward portion of the trigger guard is not preferred because only a few models of semiautomatics offer a flat ledge at the forward portion of the trigger guard necessary for the locking action.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved handgun holster which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art, and is designed to provide a holster which secures the handgun from withdrawal by any but the wearer and yet permits a fast withdrawal upwardly by one trained in using the holster. It is another object to provide a holster that provides obstacles to one attempting an unauthorized withdrawal of the handgun from the front or side of the holster. Other objects will appear in the more detailed description which follows.